A Wise Virgin and Studies Studies of the Artist's Left Leg (verso)

Albrecht Dürer executed this richly detailed drawing at the age of 22, while traveling through central Europe's Upper Rhine region to complete his artistic training. One one side of the sheet, he drew a female figure holding a burning oil lamp; she represents one of the Wise Virgins waiting for the bridegroom in the biblical parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. Turning the paper over and rotating it, the artist sketched his own left leg from two slightly different viewpoints, adding the date 1493. The rapidly sketched lines in this drawing are direct and informal. By contrast, the carefully depicted folds of the Virgin's tunic, as well as her abundant curls, show Dürer taking a more elaborate approach, inspired by the precisely defined lines of contemporary engravings and woodcuts, which influenced his early drawing style.